diff --git a/e2e_test/chat_completions/test_multimodal.py b/e2e_test/chat_completions/test_multimodal.py
index 087621367..93f28beba 100644
--- a/e2e_test/chat_completions/test_multimodal.py
+++ b/e2e_test/chat_completions/test_multimodal.py
@@ -142,10 +142,10 @@ def test_multi_images_mixed(self, model, setup_backend):
         assert text is not None and len(text) > 0
         text_lower = text.lower()
 
-        # Should acknowledge all 3 images
-        assert "3" in text or "three" in text_lower, (
-            f"Expected model to count 3 images, got: {text}"
-        )
+        # Don't assert an exact image count: the two pug inputs are byte-identical,
+        # and engines legitimately differ on whether identical multimodal inputs are
+        # deduplicated (vLLM encodes the duplicate once; sglang keeps both). The
+        # duplicate-detection assertion below covers the intent of this test.
         # Should identify both dog and pug
         assert any(k in text_lower for k in ["dog", "puppy", "labrador"]), (
             f"Expected dog-related content, got: {text}"